Page - 148 - in JRFM - Journal Religion Film Media, Volume 02/02

148 | Stefanie Knauss www.jrfm.eu 2016, 2/2, 143–148 ful and more relevant in the contemporary context. Most chapters also reflect the increasing awareness of cultural studies that culture is neither stable nor is its meaning inherent to its products, but instead is created in a “circuit of culture”, a dynamic meaning-making process moving back and forth between production, representation and reception. Regulation and identity, the two additional moments of the circuit of culture as developed by Paul du Gay and his colleagues, are not explicitly noted as elements in the circuit, but are im- plicitly treated in a number of chapters, for example, through discussion of the censorship activities of Roman Catholics in the United States or the role of the Internet in shaping religious identities. Most chapters successfully combine a more general overview (of histori- cal developments, trends in research, or prominent themes) with the in-depth treatment of a particular aspect, adding elements of new scholarship to the summaries of existing research. Occasionally, however, the need for over- view and generality leads to an emphasis on description, rather than analysis, something that is particularly noticeable with regard to gender, race and class. While sometimes authors might note gender differences or aspects pertaining to gender – for example the association of fashion with sexuality in the case of women, but not men, in Edward Dutton’s chapter on fashion, or the perpetua- tion of unequal gender ideals in Hindu media in Sheila Nayar’s chapter – these observations are rarely subjected to more detailed analysis. However, I realize that we all approach a book with our specific expectations, and not all can – or should – be fulfilled even by an extensive work such as this, and thus these comments should be read as suggestions for further research rather than as criticism of a very fine volume. In their breadth as well as their depth, the chapters collected here are of very high quality and provide fascinating insights into the many possibilities the encounters between religion and popular culture bring with them, the ways in which this field has been approached by previous research, and pos- sible future directions. Together with detailed summaries at the beginnings of sections and an index that helps navigate the mass of material in this vol- ume, this makes the Companion exciting reading material and a useful tool for research both for newcomers to the field and for those who are already engaged in the study of religion and popular culture.